Why the Athleisure Industry is Thriving During COVID-19
We live in a time where we are almost forced to embrace comfort in how we dress. Shelter-at-home recommendations to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has meant we all are spending time working comfortably from our living rooms. Zoom video calls have replaced the office and as a result, “work clothes” have been replaced by … sweatpants.
This casual-friendly environment has benefitted one big clothing trend in particular — athleisure.
Athleisure on the rise
Athleisure simply means sportswear, or clothing that would normally be worn during athletics or physical fitness but that can be applied in a versatile way.
We see it all around, from a brunch out with friends to a night on the town. Clothing originally designed for the basketball court or the yoga studio has become a practical, and ever stylish, way to express oneself.
On the rise over the past decade, athleisure has benefitted from our current pandemic era. The need to embrace comfort while working at home has meant we don’t necessarily need a closet full of office-friendly formal wear.
Recently, CBS News reported on what an economic boon the “new normal” set by our current public health crisis has been for companies specializing in athleisure. While overall apparel sales were down 34 percent between March and July compared to the same period a year ago, athleisure has flourished.
The news network reports that sales of active shorts were up 3 percent. Sweatpants increased 2 percent and sports bras zoomed up 7 percent, during the same time, according to data from the NPD Group.
"We see active categories are doing well and gaining dollars, while other categories have been put on the back burner because we are leaning toward an at-home, active lifestyle and using activewear for everyday purposes," NDP Group apparel industry analyst Maria Rugolo told CBS.
The staying power of activewear
It’s clear that athleisure is here to stay.
Overall, the athleisure market size was valued at $155.2 billion in 2018 and is expected to skyrocket to $257.1 billion by 2026, according to MarketWatch.
They cite two big things at play: the cultural and professional changes brought on by COVDI-19 as well as the rise of millennial and “Gen Z” consumers who are now outnumbering more formal wear-favoring baby boomers.
In fact, Digital Commerce 360 reports that athleisure is almost 20 percent of total online apparel sales.
With work at home and the looming presence of more coronavirus shutdowns globally, expect athleisure’s influence to only grow.
It’s everywhere. Whether it’s affordable department store giant Kohl’s staking a big bet on athleisure bringing a needed retail comeback, Gen Z continuing to embrace leggings and yoga gear over, well, actual pants, or high profile trendsetters from entertainment to even politics, like current Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris, the future is bright for activewear.
A long history
One thing to keep in mind is how it’s always been with us. Everything from the popular polo shirt to even jeans all have origins in sports and physical activity. Eventually, these clothing items found themselves at the forefront of fashion and popular culture.
Just take this quote from Derek Thompson’s article in The Atlantic on the indelible history of the trend: “The theme of the past century of Western fashion is this: We take clothes designed for activity, and we adapt them for inactivity. And that’s true beyond the world of sports. For decades, Levi Strauss jeans were worn mostly by men working in factories and farms; today, denim is for loungers. Wristwatches were pioneered in World War I to keep soldiers punctual; today, we embrace them as peacetime jewelry.”
Essentially, we’ve always repurposed functional clothing to be part of our daily fashions. The current COVID-19 crisis and the immediate changes it has made on how we socialize, and work is another inflection point where how we live influences what we wear.